I didn’t set out to play jump rope STAR! when I picked up my Playdate this weekend. I was actually looking for something else, but lazily searched only half of the correct title and found myself staring at jump rope STAR! at the top of the results instead. Curious — in part because “Hot Rope Jump” was one of my favorite minigames in Mario Party 2 back in the day — I clicked on it, and was greeted by pictures that look like something I’d tape to my refrigerator if given by a 5-year-old. It was kind of a “say no more” moment; I purchased it immediately.

As you’d expect from the title, jump rope STAR! is a jump rope game for Playdate. It offers a few different modes for solo and co-op play, the latter involving two players sharing one device. I haven’t run into many multiplayer games for Playdate, so that alone is pretty cool. The game was made by Chris Corciega (Soinksters Games), but the art was “designed by a talented 5-year old,” Maya. And it is adorable. As you try to set new high scores, you use the crank to control the swing of a jump rope held by a bipedal bunny and a… striped pig (?). Okay I’m not entirely sure what the second character is, but those two are swinging the rope, and the goal is to do so in time with the little stick-figure girl’s jumps so you don’t trip her up.

Her timing isn’t always consistent and she speeds up as you progress, so it starts to get pretty tricky after a minute or so. But, achieving perfect swings will earn you points in the Star Meter that’s on the side of the screen, and once it’s filled, you can use that power to temporarily slow down time and get more swings in while the girl is in the air. In the other modes, things get a little more complicated. Playing with a friend in the two-player catch mode, for example, one of you will have to press buttons to move the girl around so she can catch falling stars while the other person swings the rope. (Very hard to do on your own, I discovered).

It’s a simple but fun little game, made even better by the fact that you can involve someone else in the silliness. Both adults and children would be able to enjoy it, and there is a kid mode for a more forgiving style of play if you don’t want family game night to get too competitive. This strikes me as another one of those perfectly Playdate games — the kind that just seems like a natural fit for the device, and that you’d show your friends to try to get them to understand its charm.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/i-think-i-found-the-most-wholesome-game-in-the-playdate-catalog-222138394.html?src=rss

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The Hubble Space Telescope is still trucking along more than 30 years after its launch, observing the universe and sending home images for us to marvel at. This week, NASA and ESA highlighted an image captured by Hubble of the highly productive Tarantula Nebula (officially named 30 Doradus) in the Large Magellanic Cloud, and it’s a sight to behold.

The Tarantula Nebula is “the largest and most productive star-forming region in the local universe,” with stars roughly 200 times as massive as the sun at its center, according to NASA. This Hubble view gives us a look at the outskirts of the nebula, revealing layers of colorful gas and stars. The Tarantula Nebula sits within the Large Magellanic Cloud, a nearby dwarf galaxy.

While the final result we see is filled with brilliant colors, Hubble’s images initially come back in grayscale. As NASA has explained, “scientists can create a composite color image by taking exposures using different color filters on the telescope, assigning a color to each filter that corresponds to the wavelength of that filter, and combining the images.” The new image of the Tarantula Nebula doesn’t just represent visible light, but ultraviolet and infrared too. In such a case, colors are assigned to those wavelengths we can’t normally see.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasa-and-esa-share-a-breathtaking-hubble-image-of-the-tarantula-nebulas-outer-edge-202349788.html?src=rss

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An obscure horror game from the late ‘80s that gained a cult following by way of shareware is coming back from the grave. Last Half of Darkness, a point and click horror adventure created by developer Bill Fisher, has been completely remade with modern graphics, along with a new soundtrack and updates to the story and puzzles, according to Eurogamer. Fisher’s WRF Studios shared a teaser for the remake on Friday, and the game is due to be released on Steam on February 7.

In the game, you’re tasked with exploring the creepy property of the player character’s dead aunt, solving puzzles and making choices that hopefully won’t get you killed. The description explains:

Your aunt sure was a strange one. She was some sort of witch or something. A good witch though, practicing only good spells and magic. In fact, she was working on a potion just before she was killed. Now the secret will go to the grave with her... unless you can find the missing ingredients.

The original Last Half of Darkness is available to play for free from the official website, too. In a playthrough a few years ago, one streamer (and some commenters) remembered it as “the first game to ever scare me.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-1989-point-and-click-horror-game-last-half-of-darkness-has-been-remade-for-2025-184458750.html?src=rss

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Following a report by NPR that said the Trump administration is working on a deal with Oracle and other investors to take over TikTok in the US, Trump has denied any talks with Oracle but says he has “spoken to many people about TikTok” and may make a decision in the next month, according to Reuters. Trump signed an executive order shortly after taking office on Monday that delays the enforcement of the TikTok ban by 75 days, giving the app’s parent company ByteDance more time to figure out a deal that would allow it to continue US operations.

NPR, citing sources “with direct knowledge of the talks,” originally reported that Oracle met with White House officials on Friday to discuss a deal in which Oracle and other American investors would end up with a majority stake in TikTok and oversee things like data collection. Microsoft has also been involved with the talks, according to NPR. “The goal is for Oracle to effectively monitor and provide oversight with what is going on with TikTok,” an unnamed source told NPR. “ByteDance wouldn't completely go away, but it would minimize Chinese ownership.”

When asked about a potential deal with Oracle by reporters during an Air Force One flight Saturday night, though, Trump said, per Reuters, “No, not with Oracle. Numerous people are talking to me, very substantial people, about buying it and I will make that decision probably over the next 30 days.”

Prior to the ban going into effect on January 19, ByteDance pushed back against the idea of selling TikTok to appease US lawmakers. But it changed its tune on Sunday after Trump stepped in to temporarily bring the app back online, issuing a statement on TikTok’s X account saying that the company “will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”

It came a few hours after Trump wrote in a Truth Social post during the short-lived TikTok blackout that he “would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture.” Still, his exact plan remains unclear. According to one of the sources that spoke with NPR, “Nobody seems to know what he means with the 50 percent equity comments.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/trump-denies-talks-with-oracle-about-a-tiktok-deal-but-says-a-decision-will-likely-be-made-within-30-days-163755199.html?src=rss

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The latest WhatsApp beta update for iOS gives users the ability to add and switch between multiple accounts on a single device, according to WABetaInfo. It comes over a year after the feature became available for Android. With version 25.2.10.70 for iOS, users are given a choice when adding a second account to the app, WABetaInfo reports: they can set it up as a standalone primary account or “scan a QR code to link the new account as a companion.” The update is available now for beta testers through Apple’s TestFlight program.

On Android, running two accounts simultaneously on WhatsApp requires a dual-SIM situation, as each account must have its own phone number. WhatsApp does offer another app, WhatsApp Business, that users can set up a second account on using a different phone number, but that still means jumping between two apps. The Android update and what’s currently being tested for iOS allow users with two phone numbers to keep all their conversations in one app.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/whatsapp-could-soon-let-ios-users-have-multiple-accounts-on-one-device-224908618.html?src=rss

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These are the new releases that we picked up this week.

 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/what-to-read-this-weekend-an-immersive-new-work-of-africanfuturism-210001195.html?src=rss

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A new Resident Evil reboot from Barbarian writer and director Zach Cregger is in the works, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The publication reports that Cregger is on board to write and direct the movie, which will be produced by Constantin Film and PlayStation Productions, with Shay Hatten (John Wick: Chapter 4 ) as co-writer. I’m probably not the only one questioning whether we really need another Resident Evil movie after half a dozen titles in the Milla Jovovich-led series and 2021’s Welcome to Raccoon City, but as someone who loved Barbarian, I can’t say I’m not intrigued.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, “Cregger’s take is described by sources as a revamp that will take the title to its horror roots and be more faithful to the initial games.” There aren’t any details about the upcoming movie beyond that, but Warner Bros., Netflix and two other studios are reportedly in a bidding war for it.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/the-filmmaker-behind-barbarian-is-leading-a-new-resident-evil-reboot-173415349.html?src=rss

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Marvel Snap was one of the unexpected casualties of the TikTok shutdown that briefly went into effect last weekend, and as a way of making things right with users, its developers at Second Dinner are now offering huge rewards packages to everyone directly and indirectly affected. As detailed in an article on X, US users will get the most substantial compensation, but even players outside the country will get a “Global Gratitude Package” for dealing with the disruptions. Second Dinner was able to bring Marvel Snap back online earlier this week, and it expects the app to be restored in the Google Play Store and App Store in the coming days.

In addition to the bonuses, Second Dinner said it’s “working to bring more services in-house and partner with a new publisher” to prevent this type of scenario from arising again. Marvel Snap’s current publisher, Nuverse, has ties to TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, which is what got it swept up in the ban. “This is the beginning of a new era in MARVEL SNAP,” Second Dinner said in the post. The bonus packages will be issued to users “sometime next week.”

The “US Downtime Package” for users who have reached Collection Level 500 or over includes 2 Spotlight Keys; 5000 Season Pass XP; 4150 Credits; 6200 Collector’s Tokens; 1000 Gold; 5 Gold Conquest Ticket; 3 Infinite Conquest Ticket; 4000 Conquest Medals; 1 Mystery Variant; 6 Premium Mystery Variants; 1 Cosmic Red Border (Super Rare); 3 Cosmic Gold Border (Super Rare); and 155 x5 Random Boosters. For those under Collection Level 500, it’ll be 6 Mystery Series 3 Cards; 5000 Season Pass XP; 7150 Credits; 1000 Gold; 1 Mystery Variant; 6 Premium Mystery Variant; 1 Cosmic Red Border (Super Rare); 3 Cosmic Gold Border (Super Rare); and 155 x5 Random Boosters

Users outside of the US and over Collection Level 500 will get 2 Spotlight Keys; 3000 Collector’s Tokens; 1500 Credits; 1 Mystery Variant; 1 Premium Mystery Variant; 1 Cosmic Gold Border (Super Rare); 1 Cosmic Red Border (Super Rare); and 155 x3 Random Boosters. Those under Collection Level 500 will get 6 Mystery Series 3 Cards; 3000 Credits; 1 Mystery Variant; 1 Premium Mystery Variant; 1 Cosmic Gold Border (Super Rare); 1 Cosmic Red Border (Super Rare) and 155 x3 Random Boosters.

Importantly, Second Dinner also notes, “A players’ usage of a VPN will not affect their eligibility. This includes players from outside the US VPN-ing into the US to try and receive the ‘US Downtime Package.’”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/marvel-snap-users-are-getting-a-welcome-back-rewards-package-to-make-up-for-the-tiktok-ban-outage-160134470.html?src=rss

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Mike Mignola, the creator of Hellboy, has been cooking up a whole new fantasy universe, and the first book set in it is out now. Bowling with Corpses and Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown, is an anthology that reads like a collection of myths and folklore. The stories are macabre with a touch of whimsy (as in, occasional animal narrators), ranging from a boy’s bizarre adventure after he becomes the unexpected wielder of a powerful dead hand, to the creation of the world and gods in the eponymous Lands Unknown.

Mignola said when the project was announced last year that “it all started with an Italian folktale about a boy who goes bowling with corpses,” which he wanted to adapt, but also to “play fast and loose” in doing so. “So I created a whole new world,” he said. Bowling with Corpses hits comic stores today, and you can read a snippet from “Una and the Devil” (one of my favorite stories in the book) below.

Unsurprisingly, Mignola’s style lends itself well to the concept of creepy folk tales, and there are some really stunning visuals that bring it all to life: a woman rising from a blood-filled casket; a man following a floating dagger through a forest bathed in red; a newly transformed creature of the night spreading her wings for the first time. The book contains eight stories across its 112 pages (and a promise for more to come!), so there’s plenty of good stuff to sink your teeth into. 

Mignola collaborated once again with Ben Stenbeck (Our Bones Dust) to create the Lands Unknown universe, and the book is the first to be published under Mignola’s new imprint, Curious Objects, from Dark Horse Comics. Bowling with Corpses and Other Strange Tales From Lands Unknown was written and illustrated by Mignola, colored by Dave Stewart and lettered by Clem Robins.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/heres-a-look-at-mike-mignolas-new-book-set-in-a-macabre-folklore-inspired-universe-170009280.html?src=rss

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Bluesky experienced explosive growth last year, particularly toward the end, necessitating that the platform ramp up its moderation efforts. In its recently released moderation report for 2024, Bluesky said it grew by about 23 million users, jumping from 2.9 million users to nearly 26 million. And, its moderators received 17 times the number of user reports they got in 2023 — 6.48 million in 2024 compared to 358,000 the previous year. 

The bulk of these reports were related to “harassment, trolling or intolerance,” spam and misleading content (including impersonation and misinformation). The presence of accounts posing as other people has been a known issue in the wake of Bluesky’s popularity spike, and the platform updated its impersonation policy in November with a “more aggressive” approach in an attempt to crack down on it. At the time, it said it had quadrupled its moderation team. The new report says Bluesky’s moderation team has grown to about 100, and hiring is ongoing. “Some moderators specialize in particular policy areas, such as dedicated agents for child safety,” it notes.

Other categories Bluesky says it received a lot of reports about include “illegal and urgent issues” and unwanted sexual content. There were also 726,000 reports marked as “other.” Bluesky says it complied with 146 requests from “law enforcement, governments, legal firms” out of a total of 238 last year.

The platform plans on making some changes to the way reports and appeals are handled this year that it says will “streamline user communication,” like providing users with updates about actions it has taken on content they’ve reported and, further down the line, letting users appeal takedown decisions directly in the app. Moderators took down 66,308 accounts in 2024, while its automated systems took down 35,842 spam and bot profiles. “Looking ahead to 2025, we're investing in stronger proactive detection systems to complement user reporting, as a growing network needs multiple detection methods to rapidly identify and address harmful content,” Bluesky says. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/blueskys-2024-moderation-report-shows-how-quickly-harmful-content-grew-as-new-users-flocked-in-000149354.html?src=rss

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Instagram head Adam Mosseri took to Threads on Sunday with yet another announcement this weekend, the timing of which surely had nothing at all to do with TikTok and other ByteDance-owned apps (briefly) going dark: a new, free video-editing app called Edits is on the way. Instagram's Edits will cater to people who edit videos on their phone, and will offer “a full suite of creative tools.” That includes higher-quality recordings, shareable drafts, trending audio, insights about your Reels’ performance and an “inspiration tab,” on top of the usual editing tools. 

If all that reminds you of CapCut, TikTok’s sister app for video editing, you’re not alone. In response to the immediate comparisons, Mosseri called Edits “CapCut, but more for creators than casual video makers.”

Edits isn’t available yet, but you can pre-order it on the App Store if you’re an iOS user and Mosseri says an Android version is “coming soon.” While he puts the release sometime in February, the App Store page says March 13. And don’t expect anything too polished when it arrives. “The first version is going to be incomplete, so please be patient, but I’m really excited to put this in all your hands,” Mosseri said.

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The announcement came shortly after TikTok said its app was coming back online in the US, a mere 12 hours or so after it shut down. CapCut hasn’t come back yet, but it’s expected to follow suit. Trump said on social media that he would announce an executive order after he’s sworn in that would extend ByteDance’s time to sort out TikTok’s future.

While Threads users have been calling Instagram out for the timing of the announcement, Mosseri said the app has been in development for months, “and I think it'll end up pretty different than CapCut.” On that note, he said, “Edits will have a much broader range of creative tools and probably a smaller addressable audience. Think a place to track all your ideas instead of templates. Think AI video editing tools on a per clip or per video basis. Think new insights on why your videos are succeeding or struggling.” 

One way it appears Edits may have a leg up on CapCut, at least, is the App Store page says videos won’t have a watermark when they’re exported. While the free version of CapCut has long added the easily removable ending logo to videos at the time of export, it recently started adding a corner watermark too. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/instagram-is-rushing-out-a-new-video-editing-app-that-sure-sounds-a-lot-like-capcut-205054034.html?src=rss

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It hasn't even been a full day since ByteDance shut down TikTok in the US, and now it says the app is coming back. In a statement posted on X Sunday afternoon, TikTok wrote, “In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service.” 

The statement also thanked Trump, who will be sworn in on Monday and who previously said he was considering giving TikTok an extension amid reports of potential bidders (though ByteDance has expressed no interest in selling). “We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States,” TikTok said.

At the time of this writing, the TikTok app is once again up and running for me despite previously showing a message saying I “can't use TikTok for now.” Phew, what an agonizing — checks watch — 12 hours that was without it. TikTok doesn't yet seem to be back in the App Store or Google Play Store, though, so if you deleted the app from your phone, you'll probably have to wait a little longer to get it back. CapCut, one of the other ByteDance-owned apps affected by the ban, also isn't available. 

While the law banning TikTok was set to go into effect today, January 19, the outgoing administration has expressed that it would not be enforcing it in Biden’s final hours as president. MSNBC reported on Saturday that White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called TikTok’s threat to go dark “a stunt,” saying “we see no reason for TikTok or other companies to take actions in the next few days before the Trump Administration takes office on Monday.” But TikTok maintained that it couldn’t stay online without assurance that service providers would not be punished.

Trump chimed in on Sunday morning, writing on Truth Social, “I’m asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark! I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security. The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.”

He also outlined a vague plan for how he envisions TikTok’s future in the US. “I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture. By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say [sic] up. Without U.S. approval, there is no Tik Tok.”

According to NPR's Bobby Allyn, who spoke to a person close to the matter, Trump's statement was reassuring enough for TikTok's web providers Oracle and Akamai to restore service. But Apple and Google “still have not agreed to let TikTok return,” Allyn reports. Providers that don't comply with the TikTok ban law have been threatened with penalties that could amount to billions of dollars, so it's no surprise we aren't seeing TikTok back in the App Store or Google Play Store just yet. Apple has already said of its decision to pull TikTok and other ByteDance apps that it “is obligated to follow the laws in the jurisdictions where it operates.”

I sure hope you aren’t already exhausted by the back and forth ridiculousness of this situation because, my friends, it’s not over.

Update, January 19 2025, 5:20PM ET: This story has been updated to add additional information from NPR on the providers that have restored service to TikTok. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/tiktok-says-its-restoring-service-in-the-us-175440013.html?src=rss

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Update, January 19 2025, 2:06PM ET: After shutting down its app and being delisted from various app stores about 12 hours ago, TikTok is now in the process of restoring services in the US. This story addresses more recent changes to this evolving situation; below is the original text of this report.

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It’s been unclear in the leadup to the TikTok ban what the fate of parent company ByteDance’s other apps would be, but now we know: they’ve gone dark in the US too. At the same time TikTok went offline this weekend, so did other apps ByteDance has developed or is affiliated with, including the popular video-editing tool CapCut, the social media platform Lemon8 and Marvel Snap. All are now displaying messages to US users that their services are unavailable. Ben Brode, Chief Development Officer for Marvel Snap developer Second Dinner, wrote on Threads that getting caught up in the ban “was a surprise to us” and that the team is working on getting it back online. 

Second Dinner echoed this on X and in its in-app message to users, adding, “MARVEL SNAP isn’t going anywhere.” While Marvel Snap was created by the US-based developer, its publisher Nuverse Games is a ByteDance subsidiary. Other Nuverse games appear to be affected too.

CapCut and Lemon8 may be less surprising casualties, both having been developed by ByteDance, but given the law’s focus on TikTok alone as its target, their shutdown is still sure to come as a shock to many users. CapCut is widely used for video editing, especially among social media creators. And many TikTok users looking for an alternative in light of the ban flocked to Lemon8; just a few days ago, Lemon8 was the second most-popular app on the App Store.

On a new support page listing some of the affected apps, Apple notes, “If you already have these apps installed on your device, they will remain on your device. But they can’t be redownloaded if deleted or restored if you move to a new device. In-app purchases and new subscriptions are no longer possible.” These apps also won’t receive updates. 

Along with TikTok, CapCut, Lemon8 and Marvel Snap, Apple names Lark, Hypic — an AI photo editing tool — and Gauth: AI Study Companion as apps that have been pulled as a result of the ban. But there are many others that aren’t listed that may be swept up in it too.

“Apple is obligated to follow the laws in the jurisdictions where it operates,” Apple said in a statement on the support page. “Pursuant to the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, apps developed by ByteDance Ltd. and its subsidiaries — including TikTok, CapCut, Lemon8, and others — will no longer be available for download or updates on the App Store for users in the United States starting January 19, 2025.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/marvel-snap-capcut-lemon8-and-other-bytedance-apps-have-also-shut-down-in-the-us-alongside-tiktok-153002137.html?src=rss

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Canoo said on Friday night that it has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and “will cease operations effective immediately,” after failing to secure enough funding to keep it going. The writing was on the wall for the EV startup leading up to the announcement; the company has lost multiple executives in recent months, announced furloughs and reported to the SEC in November that it had just $700,000 in the bank, per TechCrunch.

In a press release announcing the filing, Canoo said it was unable to get funding from the Department of Energy’s Loan Program Office or from “foreign sources of capital” that executives had been in talks with. “In light of the fact that these efforts were unsuccessful, the Board has made the difficult decision to file for insolvency,” it said. Canoo owes a total of over $164 million to hundreds creditors, and has about $126 million in assets, according to TechCrunch. Under the filing in Delaware, Canoo’s assets will be liquidated and the proceeds will be distributed to its creditors. In a statement, CEO Tony Aquila said, “We are truly disappointed that things turned out as they did.”

Canoo made a few electric vans for NASA and a prototype for the US Army, and had deals for larger fleets with the likes of USPS and Walmart, but only a small number of its vans appear to have ever materialized.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/ev-startup-canoo-has-filed-for-bankruptcy-and-stopped-all-operations-232719895.html?src=rss

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Just one day before TikTok is expected to shut down in the US, startup Perplexity AI has submitted a bid to TikTok’s parent company ByteDance proposing a merger that would allow it to continue operating, CNBC reports. Citing an anonymous source, CNBC reports that the proposed merger would “create a new entity combining Perplexity, TikTok US and New Capital Partners.” It comes after the Supreme Court on Friday ruled unanimously to uphold a law that requires ByteDance to sell TikTok or it will be banned in the US. The company has so far resisted the idea of a sale.

According to CNBC’s source, Perplexity — which currently offers an AI-powered search engine and is being sued by news organizations for copyright infringement — is hoping a merger rather than a sale will be more appealing to ByteDance. “The new structure would allow for most of ByteDance’s existing investors to retain their equity stakes and would bring more video to Perplexity,” CNBC reports. If ByteDance were to accept the proposal, there’s a chance the company would be given a 90-day extension by Trump to work out a deal, which he told NBC News' Kristen Welker that he would “most likely” do when he takes office on Monday. But there is as yet no indication that ByteDance will go this route.  

Despite rampant speculation about potential buyers, TikTok said it will “be forced to go dark on January 19” when the law takes effect unless “the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement.” The outgoing administration, however, reportedly says it’s leaving all that for the Trump team to deal with. Per MSNBC, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called TikTok’s claim about shutting down “a stunt,” and said “we see no reason for TikTok or other companies to take actions in the next few days before the Trump Administration takes office on Monday.”

“We have laid out our position clearly and straightforwardly: actions to implement this law will fall to the next administration,” Jean-Pierre said, according to MSNBC. “So TikTok and other companies should take up any concerns with them.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/perplexity-ai-has-reportedly-submitted-an-11th-hour-bid-to-save-tiktok-in-the-us-215012514.html?src=rss

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Instagram is rolling out a bunch of changes this weekend that will conveniently make it look a lot more like TikTok, which could go dark in the US on Sunday now that the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the law banning the app if parent company ByteDance doesn’t sell it. Those changes include extending Reels to three minutes long and changing the longstanding square grid on your profile to a rectangular layout, as Adam Mosseri announced in an Instagram post and on his Story, respectively. Considering how some users have crafted a specific look for their pages around the square grid, the latter isn’t likely to go over well with everyone.

Nor is the third thing: there’s now a tab in your Reels feed that shows you videos your friends have liked or added Notes to, Mosseri shared on Threads. Which means, of course, that your friends can more easily see what you’ve been liking and interacting with, too. Didn’t we already agree this was kind of invasive back when Instagram had — and eventually removed — a whole feed dedicated to seeing the activity of the people you follow? In any case, the changes have already begun rolling out. You'll now see a button showing your friends' activity at the top right of the Reels tab, which will bring you to the new feed.

Addressing the switch from the square grid in his Stories, Mosserri chalked it up to aligning with users’ posting habits. “I know some of you really like your squares, and square photos are kind of the heritage of Instagram, but at this point most of what’s uploaded — both photos and videos — are vertical in their orientation, so portrait versus landscape or square, and it just is a bummer to overly crop them,” he said. “So I know it’s a change, I know it’s a bit of a pain, but I think it’s a transitional pain.” He went on to say, “I think that people will over the long run be excited” not to have their posts appear “aggressively cropped.”

Instagram already had offered a somewhat TikTok-like view of users’ profiles under the Reels tab, but the latest move gives photos on the main grid the rectangular treatment too (only on the grid though, they’ll expand to normal size when you click them individually). On making Reels longer, Mosseri said in a separate post that while Instagram has long focused on short-form video, “we’ve heard the feedback that this is just too short for those who want to share longer stories.” Instagram previously only allowed Reels of up to 90-seconds long, though you could work around this by sharing a longer video as a non-Reel post.

TikTok, which also began with a focus on short-form, extended its post length to three minutes several years ago, and later upped this to 10 minutes in 2022. If TikTok really does shut down, users are going to be looking for a new home for that type of content.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/instagram-swoops-in-with-3-minute-reels-and-rectangular-profile-grids-as-the-tiktok-ban-gets-real-201316339.html?src=rss

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Bang & Olufsen announced its new $499 premium earbuds, the Beoplay Eleven, back in November, touting among other things their replaceable batteries “for sustainability” and alignment with the EU’s impending device repairability requirements. But an iFixit teardown tells a more complicated story about actually replacing those batteries, describing the process of just getting the case open as “a very onerous and labor intensive task… even for a trained technician.” And inside, the battery is affixed to other components in ways that require heat to remove it, which in itself wouldn't comply with the EU's upcoming rules. Given all the work involved, the earbuds scored an abysmal 1/10 on iFixit’s repairability scorecard.

Bang & Olufsen said the earbuds’ design “allows for battery replacement by service,” which, as iFixit notes, suggests that this isn’t meant to be a repair you can do yourself at home. It did ultimately turn out to be possible to take one of the earbuds apart without damaging any of the electronics inside, but the laborious teardown calls into question how feasible — and sustainable — battery replacement would be even when carried out at a B&O service center. After opening up the case and finding “a plastic weld mark barring access to the battery,” iFixit’s Shahram Mokhtari notes in the video that, “at a minimum, any battery replacement service would need to dispose of the plastic housing completely.”

“I’d love to see B&O’s process for changing these batteries out,” Mokhtari wrote in the blog post. “I’m willing to bet it’s neither cheap nor waste-free but I would love to be proven wrong.” The teardown also revealed the Beoplay Eleven to be a “carbon copy” of the 2022 Beoplay EX internally. “Even the peel-away film on the rear of each earbud says ‘Beoplay EX’ — not ‘Beoplay Eleven,’” Mokhtari wrote. Yikes.

In a statement provided to Engadget, Bang & Olufsen said, “When a customer buys a set of Beoplay Eleven earphones, we offer serviceability from our certified B&O service center to promote circular product choices over disposable alternatives. The process we have established ensures that the service-life of the earphones can be extended and offers our customers an alternative to replacing the product at the point where battery performance is no longer sufficient due to limitations in battery technology. By offering a service solution for our earphones, we want to give our customers access to join the path towards a circular future.”

The company pointed to its modular Beoplay H100 headphones and Beosound Level speaker as “great examples of this,” along with “legacy products such as the Beogram 4000 turntable and the Beosound 9000 CD-player which are still in use and being repaired on a daily basis by our service center in Struer.”

Update, January 22 2025, 11:48AM ET: This story has been updated to add a statement from Bang & Olufsen. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/bang-and-olufsens-new-earbuds-with-replaceable-batteries-dont-seem-to-be-very-repairable-174949894.html?src=rss

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The weeklong speedrunning marathon Awesome Games Done Quick 2025 wrapped up in the wee hours of Sunday morning, and organizers say it managed to pull in a total of $2,556,305 for Prevent Cancer Foundation. 

As could be expected, the event in Pittsburgh brought a good mix of skill and silliness: there was a Crazy Taxi speedrun featuring a live band; FunkopotamusWes played the piano during his run of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, using his head and feet to control the game via motion controls; and Dr. Doot did an Elden Ring bosses speedrun using an electric saxophone. Yes, the saxophone did make little doot doot sounds the entire time.

The marathon ran continuously from January 5-12, so there are many, many more great moments besides these to catch up on if you missed it. Everything can be found on the Games Done Quick YouTube channel.

AGDQ is one of several charity-focused events held by Games Done Quick every year, and the next one, Back to Black is coming up in February. Highlighting Black hosts and speedrunners, that event (Feb 6-9) will raise money for the racial justice nonprofit, Race Forward. Over the years, Games Done Quick has raised more than $54 million for various charities including Prevent Cancer Foundation and Doctors Without Borders. AGDQ raised about $2.5 million during its marathon last year, too. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/awesome-games-done-quick-raises-another-25-million-for-a-cancer-nonprofit-202228938.html?src=rss

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It’s looking more and more like the rumored ultra-thin iPhone we’ve been hearing about for the last few months will get Apple’s “Air” branding. In the Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says the iPhone 17 lineup will feature a new model that could be called the iPhone 17 Air, and it’ll be roughly 2 millimeters thinner than any other model we’ve seen yet. “It will have a base-level A19 chip and a single-lens camera system,” Gurman notes, and will serve “as a testing ground for future technologies, including ones that could allow for foldable devices.” That and the upcoming new iPhone SE will use Apple’s first in-house modem, according to Gurman.

We’re also likely to see upgrades to the entry-level iPad that will make it compatible with Apple Intelligence. Gurman reports that the next generation of iPad will get the A17 Pro chip and 8 GB of memory. That news should come in the spring along with the iPhone SE and new iPad Air models, according to Gurman.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/this-year-could-bring-the-iphone-air-and-an-entry-level-ipad-with-apple-intelligence-175059162.html?src=rss

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Amazon is shutting down its Try Before You Buy Prime program at the end of January. The move, first reported by The Information, was announced with a notice at the top of the Prime Try Before You Buy page, which puts its last day in effect as January 31. The service has been available to members since 2018, when it was first launched as Prime Wardrobe. With it, you could choose up to six items to try on, and send back whatever you didn’t want within a week for free. You’d only be charged for the items you decided to keep, and you could pick from select clothes, shoes, jewelry and accessories.

In a statement to CNBC, an Amazon spokesperson said, “Given the combination of Try Before You Buy only scaling to a limited number of items and customers increasingly using our new AI-powered features like virtual try-on, personalized size recommendations, review highlights, and improved size charts to make sure they find the right fit, we’re phasing out the Try Before You Buy option, effective January 31, 2025.” If you’re someone who still makes use of this service, you'd better get those last orders in quick.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/amazon-prime-will-no-longer-let-clothes-shoppers-try-before-you-buy-after-this-month-223158560.html?src=rss

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